I’m testing the Eleksen Fabric Keyboard too!

The Eleksen fabric keyboard appeared on the UberTablet blog earlier this week and Hugo seemed quite impressed. Have a gander at his video.

 
I love the way that my watermark appears on that image! Click to enlarge. Please!

Ultranauts were asking “What’s the Speed Coefficient?”

I can tell you. Its 0.545

The Eleksen fabric keyboard is 54% as fast as a normal keyboard.

As you probably guessed, I was testing the Eleksen fabric keyboard yesterday and it was 54% as fast as my typing on a normal keyboard. It sounds pretty bad doesn’t it? Actually its not bad at all. It was the second fastest of all the four input methods I tried and I’m really pleasantly surprised. Before I make any more comments though, here are some more images. (even more images in the gallery.)

The keys are raised by about 2mm. 

 
The i7210 ultra mobile PC fits as snug as a bug in a rug in this prototype.

Here you see the ‘heart’ of the device and the zip pocket where the USB cable is stored. 

And there’s the USB cable. 

 
 



The concept keyboard I tested weighed only 89grams. The same as my watch.

So it’s 54% as fast when typing but when doing normal browsing, its only 25% less efficient than a normal keyboard. Why? because when you’re using your notebook or UMPC, you don’t just type, you use your mouse too. I estimate that during a typical PC session it doesn’t reduce productivity at all. And when used with a UMPC, it will INCREASE productivity. Its so much faster than on-screen keyboard pecking or handwriting.

I’ll have some more comments to make on this wonderful keyboard/case combo in the next week. In the meantime I need to convince a few people that they need to manufacture it. I think they’re on to something here.

Steve / Chippy.